China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2023 03-18

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
3/21.........................................................................................................................................................3/14

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.  

                                                Section One

                                           Solar Calendar Date

                                       (top to bottom, right to left)

十

八

六期星

Third Month, Eighteenth Day

Saturday, March 18

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不十天天

將靈醫喜

Heavenly Happiness

Heavenly Physician

Ten Spirits

Not General

————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

吉中吉

酉巳丑

凶凶吉

戌午寅

中中吉

亥未卯

中吉吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

1:00-3:00 Auspicious

3:00-5:00 Auspicious

5:00-7:00 Auspicious

7:00-9:00 In-Between

9:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 In-Between

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌

成除嫁栽

服靈娶種

Planting and Cultivating

Marriage Alliances

Exorcising Spirits

Completing Clothing

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

廿

七

乙

亥

火

女

成

Twenty-Seventh Day (Second Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yihai (12/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality" Cycle: Maiden (10/28)
"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; right to left)

宜

安動移入

牀土徙學

作上醫會

灶樑病友

醞築理出

釀提髮行

納開修裁

畜渠造衣

不債

元復重死

武日喪窮

Appropriate Activities 

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Going Out (and about)

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Repairing and Constructing

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Constructing Dikes

Opening Irrigation Sluices

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Fermenting Beverages

Livestock Payments

Debt Not

Baleful Asterisms

Four Poverties

Doubled Days

Returning Days

Primal Martiality

————

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)

丫

Bifurcation

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

牀 磨 碓

Bed, Mortar, Pestle